The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-06-16

Soma months ago It was announced
that the coffee crop was very short, and
immediately . the price mounted up about
ffty per cent. tn the last eighteen
months it has advanced over one hun.
dred PEI, cent. in price. It now turns
ont that the late rise was entirely
artifcial, having been brought about by
;ia. corner BY speculators, who bought up
the visible supply and forced prices up.
t transpires that the crop is much larger
than usual, and the increased supply has
broken the corner, and with it several
.of the large frms who were bulling the
market we're completely wrecked.
Iheir fate was deserved, aud it is only q
pity for the country that every one who
spscnlstes in the necessities of life, by
rying to make corners to run up prices,
could not have the same just punishment
80 overtake them. People cry out
against tarias and combinations Of com.
mon carriers and the like, and demand
Iegislation as to them. This is, in too
I many instances, justified by the facts
about which they complain, but in our
Judgment there are no more iniquitous
msn IL America than the dealers in
futures, in crops and the necessaries of
life. The criminal who steals for q sliv-
ing-yes, all the thieves in America-do
not robo damage the honest wage earn
ing people Of our land as much az those
so-called 56nanciers, whose business is to
gamble in the crops of the land. There
! are no combinations so iniquitous, or
morally more criminal in our judgment,
than those combinations which are
{ formed to force up the prices of meat and
bread, and other necessariea of life.
These the people must have, it takes
every farthing to secure them. The
men who corner these articles to make
gain out Of them are not 80 good morally.
{ as the 3highwayman who takes your purse,
FOR, the highWayman generally gets sur
Plus, while these grain and meat fends
stake BY force, ,of 9 different kind from the
highwsymen, il is true, but at the same
time . stronger and snrsr force-the
force ofhunger, the scant earnings of the
poor as we'll as of the competence of
those more favored. Jttis the duty Of
Congress, the people should demand it,
o enact laws that will cut mp BY the
roofs this whole evil system, that is the
worst form Of gambling. It is gambling
which makes fifty millions of people sell
their products upon a basis other than
Legitimate supply and demand, and
which makes them pay more for the
necessities of life, in many instances, than
they are worth. The laws of this land
punish gambling where men voluntarily
sit down together and play for stakes
which they put mp willingly, but there
isno. peaalty for the few spectators who
make the people Of this land, and par
ticularly the working and producing
people, pay their stakes. It cannot be.
reached BY State legislation. 1.-THE evil
! is ever cured, it must be done by Con-
greas. The agricultural and stock raising
sections Of the Union are most interested
i'm this matter, and with them, also, the
consnmes. They should see to itthat
mo such impositions as the meat and
grain and provision corners are permit
ted in this country, and that the princi-
plea Of supply and demand regulate both
sales and purchases.